Visiting software development companies in LA area/Silicon Valley [closed]

None of the major software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area (including Silicon Valley) appear to offer tours to the general public; I looked up Google, Facebook, Apple, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, eBay, Symantec, Intuit, and Salesforce.com.

The larger firms like Google and Apple have campuses, parts of which are open to the public; however, you generally would not be allowed inside the buildings except as part of a prearranged visit such as a job interview or vendor presentation. Organized tours are only offered in a few circumstances; Oracle offers them to prospective employees, for example, but HP has no such thing at all. The Silicon Valley Guide will tell you where you can find things if you just want to take a picture next to a sign, or next to Google's lawn sculptures

As someone who has worked in software for some years, there is not much to see inside the buildings. Yes, the big firms have some impressive breakrooms, but the buildings, ultimately, are offices, not playgrounds. And for that matter, the buildings are not much to see on the outside, either— utilitarian, modern and postmodern office blocks surrounded by lawns, shrubs, and parking lots.

The most-recommended "geek" attraction is the Computer History Museum in Sunnyvale (though I myself have never been); some others are listed in Computer geek tourist attractions in the San Francisco Bay Area & Silicon Valley? There is also the Intel Museum in Santa Clara, and Apple has a store on its campus, if those companies hold any particular interest.

Blizzard Entertainment (known for Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft and other games) in Irvine, CA, offers tours, but only on a limited basis. If you're interested, you should contact them as soon as possible, as

Spots are limited and booked months in advance, so we recommend signing up on the waitlist for more information on availability and dates.

You could try doing meetups. For example...

http://www.meetup.com/sfhtml5/

There's a Nov 24 meetup at the Google San Francisco offices and another on Dec 12. January is probably a bit too far away for meetup's to be currently scheduled so maybe check the closer to CES that you get.

Other examples:

http://www.meetup.com/TechXploration/

They have a lot of meetup's at PayPal Town Hall (whatever that is).

http://www.meetup.com/gdg-silicon-valley/

They don't meet up at the Googleplex but they do meetup at one of the many Google offices in Mountain View.

Anyway, you get the idea. Just look for meetup groups with lots of members in cities with tech companies you're wanting to visit

If you're in university, you could try contacting HR/Hiring departments about internships--you'll be in the US for CES, would it be possible to interview or least tour the company while you're there?

Search 'company-name headquarters tour' to see if the big companies already have something in place. Look, giving tours to anyone who shows up means someone isn't doing their regular job--unless the company already makes allowances for it.

This local tour company discusses the issues a bit (most major companies do not offer tours) and suggests other geek destinations.